Compressed air motor drives wheelchair

The Human Engineering Research Laboratories at the University of Pittsburgh designed and built a waterproof wheelchair powered solely by compressed air. The university chose the air motor from PTM mechatronics GmbH because of its waterproof design according to IP68. Accordingly, the motor can be completely submerged under water.

The new wheelchair, called PneuChair, was first introduced in April 2017 at the 25-acre Morgan’s Wonderland amusement park in San Antonio, Texas, which was built for people with disabilities. Morgan’s Wonderland now has 10 PneuChairs for its Inspiration Island water park, which opened in Spring 2017.